February 19, 2025 • 34 mins
In this episode of Revelation Within On the Go Podcast, Heidi and Christina remind listeners that they are not alone in their struggles with food and body image. Shame and isolation often make these challenges feel personal, yet they are incredibly common experiences. Through shared stories and biblical insights, they explore how childhood influences, societal pressures, and misconceptions about God shape our self-perception and relationship with food. By renewing our minds and embracing God’s unchanging love, we can break free from shame and strongholds, finding true freedom and self-acceptance. This episode is a powerful reminder that healing is a journey we walk together, with God’s truth leading the way.
Learn more about our Revelation Within Community: https://www.revelationwithin.org
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi, welcome to our podcast Revelation Within On the
Go.
I'm Heidi Biles-Maepperson, oneof your hosts and the owner and
lead coach of the RevelationWithin ministry.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And I'm Christina Motley, your other host, also a
Revelation Within coach andHeidi's partner in all things
(00:33):
Revelation Within.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Welcome to the show, the show that brings you the
best of the best.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Have you with us, yes , and good to be with you, heidi
.
Good to be with you.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
We've been visiting for the last hour and a half or
so Yakking about life, and oneof the things that we started
talking about was what are somethings that the people that
we've coached, both one-on-oneand in groups or been in our
community, have in common witheach other?
What are the threads that wesee again and again?
(01:11):
And the reason why we thinkthis might be a really good
thing for us to talk about in apodcast is because one of the
common threads is everybodythinks their story is unique.
Yes, there's something wrongwith them, right?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Right, well, and it's not that their story isn't
unique, because of course we areall different, but there are a
lot of similarities and I seethem in my life, in my past, yes
, me too.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I see the same ones.
Right.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
So, yeah, I think that what we want to do is bring
you a little bit of hope today.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
But first we got to take you through the dirt.
Yes, exactly, I'm just gettingover a cold, so you can hear me
rasping in my lap.
Sorry about that, but seriously, there's a lot of things that
we all probably do struggle with, even though we think it's just
us, and one of them is shame.
And so shame keeps us isolating, of course, yes, but we feel
(02:12):
like, oh, nobody wouldunderstand, they would think ill
of me or whatever it might be,and so shame is definitely a
common thread.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Oh my gosh, it's so, so common.
I was thinking and we weretalking about this a little bit,
heidi, how you know, we alldeal with all kinds of issues
throughout our lives.
We all do.
We all hit challenges androadblocks and milestones, and
you know, in our careers, in ourfamilies, and you know all
kinds of things.
Why is this one?
(02:42):
Why is this food?
Why is this one?
Why is this food eating?
Speaker 1 (02:51):
body image.
Why is?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
this one feel so impossible to so many of us, and
I think that you just hit thenail on the head with the idea
of shame.
It's like it's a secretstronghold that we don't feel
safe talking about to anybody.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Or, if we talk about it, we have to juxtapose it with
what diet, what plan, whatsolution we're on, when that may
not be where the directionwe're headed, because we get
that it's deeper than that.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
A while back, I heard someone talk about dieting in a
way where they were very, veryangry, and this was I can't
remember if it was a therapistor a coach or somebody and I
thought why are they so angry?
And you know what I feel like.
In some ways, now I understand.
(03:38):
Well, I understand becausethere's a message in our culture
that says this one thing youshould be ashamed of yourself
and it's not safe to talk aboutit.
And so let's minimize and let'shide and let's go in secret
with this one, and I hate it.
(03:59):
I hate that.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
And it's multifaceted , so it's like, if it's not,
hate that and it's multifaceted,so it's like if it's not, you
don't look right.
You don't look a certain shapeor size that you should,
according to our culture'sbeauty standards, or whatever,
then you're not taking care ofyourself is another aspect to it
.
Yes, and so it's like it's gotso many different levels and
(04:22):
targets us in different places.
And then when you add in thatso many of us have been told
you're supposed to eat this andnot supposed to eat that, that
adds to the shame that we feeland the secrecy.
Well, let's talk for a moment,Christina, before we go any
further.
What is a stronghold?
(04:43):
Exactly, Because this topicdefinitely encompasses
everything about a stronghold.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, so in the Bible God says that he is our
stronghold, which I love thatpicture.
I love thinking of him having astronghold on me.
But, there are things in thisworld that can be our stronghold
, and so it's a counterfeitcomfort, but it's almost more
than that.
(05:10):
It's like it grips you, andthose of you out there I feel
like you will probably say ohyeah, I have that.
I have something that grips me.
It's like a magnetic pulltoward it, and over time it gets
stronger and stronger, and wethrow everything at it that we
(05:31):
can think of and, of course,food and eating is not the only
one, there's many, but we throweverything at it we can think of
.
We read every book, we pay forevery program, we try everything
we can think of, and it justseems to get bigger and bigger
the more attention we give it.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Is that a?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
good way to describe it.
Oh yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
And the world looks on it.
We've said this before and Iknow I'll say it again the world
looks on the externals and saysto us you've got a food, eating
and weight problem.
And God, I think, is sayingwait a minute.
There's something else going onhere and it is a stronghold
problem.
Who do you run to for safety,for solace, for encouragement,
(06:20):
for rest, even?
And if we have a strongholdproblem, then the solution is
going to be different than if wehave a weight, food and eating
problem.
And so the world tells us thatthe solution is going to be diet
and exercise and taking care ofyourselves.
That's in quotes and God's like, but that's not going to take
care of the stronghold, that'snot going to take care of what's
(06:42):
really happening here, and sowe want to talk about the things
that many people have in commonwith one another, who come to
us, but we want to be sure thatyou hear the message of hope as
well.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Well, and one of the things I think that has really
surprised me over the last yearsis it's not about anyone's size
either.
We have people come to us atabsolutely every size, every
size.
It's not about that.
And then we have people come tous with physical challenges.
(07:14):
We have people come to us with,you know, all kinds of things
that they've been through andthey're just you know, like I
said this to you a few minutesago, heidi there, just there,
isn't a plan.
There isn't like a list ofadvice or a plan that we could
give to anyone to fix this.
There isn't, it's not there,it's not out there, even though
(07:38):
you walk in a bookstore rememberbookstores, bookstores Walk in
a bookstore and there's, youknow, five bookshelves full of
self-help books.
Try this, try that, try this.
You know you'll have a newhabit in this many days and
you'll have this and nothinglasts, nothing lasts.
(07:59):
So we have to go deeper withthis.
We have to go deeper with this.
What happens often is that wehave people come to us just like
Heidi and I came to Thin Withinall those years ago and come
and say I'm desperate, I don'tknow what to do, I'm in despair.
This has been happening.
I've been in this shame cyclemy whole life.
(08:20):
And then we talk about goingdeeper, and then they leave.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
And they go to Weight Watchers or they go to
something like that that has aplan.
And I'm so glad you mentionedthis because in my mind right
now, as I'm thinking, what areways we can avoid going deeper?
And one of them is gravitatetowards a food plan because we
want to throw at this.
Whatever fixes what is seen andGod tells us that what is seen
(08:48):
is temporary, what is unseen iseternal.
I lost a boatload of weightwith Weight Watchers once, and
then I did back.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
It's not like we don't understand, we do
understand, we understand.
There's this little panic thatruns through you when you
realize this goes deeper thansomebody telling me what's on
the good list and what's on thebad list of what to eat or what
time of day I should eat.
There's a little panic Ifsomebody says to you Christina,
(09:17):
it's okay to eat after sevenwhat?
There's a panic?
Right, it used to be for me,not anymore, but it's like, but
that's a rule, that's a rulethat I've always followed.
We've seen that in our coachinggroups too.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Yes, we have, yeah, where we dare to rock that boat.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
We've seen that everywhere and there's hundreds
of those, those little ideas,those thoughts, those
restrictions, those rules Iguess there's hundreds of those
for all of us and they come upand it's like, oh no, well, I'm
not doing that, but it's neverserved us, it hasn't solved the
(09:56):
problem at all Right, right,Exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
So what are some of the things that many of the
people who have come to us havein common both with us and with
one another?
I know that one of the thingswe've mentioned already that
most of us have experienced insome way, with restrictive diets
or even compulsive almostexercise, sometimes for entire
decades yes, Not just a one anddone type of experience, it's
(10:23):
ongoing.
It's like well, that didn'twork 10 years ago.
I'm going back to try it againnow, Exactly.
I know that a lot of us were.
I mean, let's go back in time.
For me, it started with familymembers.
That meant well, but it didn'tgo well.
You know what they intended wasto control what I ate and how
(10:44):
much, and you know even whenthey put me on diets later, they
meant well, but what it did wascreate this real challenging
issue for me.
I don't blame them today becauseI recognize that I'm an adult
woman, a redeemed woman of God,who makes her own choices.
I have agency, but it's still apart of my history.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
And for me too.
I mean, I look back and allkinds of disordered eating stuff
was going on in my house.
My whole childhood it was there.
It was especially there with mymom.
Yeah, I'm trying to think of mydad, he just went along with
everything, but yeah, that wasthere and that's definitely
(11:26):
that's a big one.
We hear a lot of people talkabout all the dysfunctional
stuff that happened when theywere kids, and that is valid and
that is real and important forsure, and it does impact you, it
does.
It does.
It impacts us for sure, butthat is one of the ways of going
deeper really is to kind of gothere a little bit not stay
(11:47):
there forever but, definitely go.
And let me think about thatInviting God in.
It's like, oh wow, this patternreally came from my mom.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Yeah, and it's not to blame, it's to understand.
I know that when I firstrealized that, okay, I'm a
product of a lot of things thathappened in my childhood, it
helped me to not feel quite socrazy, which is good, because
once you realize you're notcrazy, that you're just like
most, of everybody else, yeah.
(12:19):
Then you know okay, I betthere's solutions here.
I bet there's solutions.
And so you know, grab a hold ofthe hand of God and walk with
him through the valley of hisshadow of death.
That's what it may feel likefor some of us.
I know it did for me and doeswhen I need to revisit it, which
I think sometimes we do.
But when I look at the abusethat I had experienced around
(12:40):
food and eating, the only way Icould really process it, the way
I needed to, was to lean intothe Lord and do it on purpose
with him, his way, and thatmeant doing a ton of forgiveness
work along the way as well.
I mean, how many of us don'thave somebody in our histories
who used words to describe theway we looked in an unflattering
(13:05):
way or are you going to eatthat?
You can't eat that and not gainweight, or whatever.
It could be anybody.
Maybe it was worse than that.
There was somebody that told usa story once about how they
would go visit their grandma fora certain length of time and at
the beginning of the visit theywould get on a scale.
And at the end of the visitthey would get on a scale.
And there have been all kindsof stories like that and we've
(13:28):
had stories similar to mineabout abuse around food.
I mean actual abuse.
If you don't eat this, you willget slapped around.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
I mean it's hard to process that.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
It is, but God wants us free of it.
It's negative impact on us, andso he wants to walk with us
through it.
Extend forgiveness and I don'tjust mean like, okay, I forgive
them for everything they did.
God will show us what that hasto look like for us.
But at 63 years of age now, Iknow I will never be abused
(14:02):
around food again.
I don't need to let mychildhood abuse come with me to
the dinner table.
I don't.
I'm free from that.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Hallelujah, right, exactly, but that is.
That's one of the most commonthings, and you know why.
Why shouldn't we be talkingabout that?
There's no shame there.
You know, it wasn't your fault.
Our parents are imperfect.
We're imperfect parents too,always asking the Lord.
That's why look and learn is soimportant.
(14:32):
We've got some participantsworking so hard to look and
really learn, which means you'reinviting God in, and it's like
why am I doing this, lord?
Why am I doing this?
Where did this come from?
Let's figure it out togetherand then being able to move on,
and that's so, so hopeful, sohealing.
(14:54):
God wants to bring healing toall those areas that are causing
roadblocks in our journeys withhim.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yeah, I would say some of us.
I think it was a product ofthose dysfunctional food
behaviors and all that we wereraised with.
That caused us to gravitatetowards certain programs that
were available.
I know for me and for many thatcome to us, they struggled with
(15:23):
embracing a view of food andeating and God, because he was a
part of this, that taught usthat we were condemned for not
losing weight.
We were condemned for eatingone bite past satisfied, and I
think some of us may havegravitated to that approach for
(15:44):
a solution because it wasfamiliar to the abuse and
dysfunction of our past.
Even though it didn't look thesame when you look deeper it was
.
It was condemning.
It was not the voice of God.
That is not condemning Right.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Yeah, definitely, that's so, so, so true, which
kind of leads into anothercommonality of the people that
we see a lot, and that is thatour view of God is inaccurate,
and I would never have said thisbefore.
I thought I've read the Biblemy whole life.
I know who God is, I know whathe does, his attributes, all of
(16:23):
that, but here I was feelingcondemned by him and feeling
like he must be disappointedwith me and I'm pushing him away
when I'm engaging in thisstronghold.
Where did all of that come from?
That's not biblical.
I have no power at all to pushGod away.
(16:44):
And how many times in the worddoes he tell us I will never,
ever, ever leave you.
I am with you, I am with you, Iwill never leave you, I am with
you, and that there's nothingthat can separate us from his
love.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Somehow there's been a message that's been released
out there for years and yearsthat says God is disappointed in
you.
You're pushing him away by yourbehavior.
That's not truth, that's notfrom the word of God, it's not
who God is.
No, yeah, so in Revelation,within, that's where we start.
(17:21):
Right there, we start with whois God.
Who is God, who is he really?
And you have to kind of take astep back and admit you know
what.
Maybe I'm not exactly sure.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
And I know this throws people quite a bit.
They come and they hope they'regoing to have an answer for how
to have, I don't know, the bodythat they hope to have, or
peace with food and eating, andthat's great too.
But we go who is God?
Let's look at this, let's findout what God's word says about
who he is.
And they're like wait a minute,just tell me what to do to eat.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Yeah, Like, why are we starting with this?
You know I've been reading theBible since I was seven or
something.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
I've been leading Bible study, fellowship, or I'm
a core leader, or what I mean,or I'm a speaker, I go to
women's conferences and speak.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
I'm an author.
Why do I need to look at this?
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Right, right.
And but this if?
Oh, my goodness for me.
This came home to me and it waslike wow, when I know what God
is really like, I have a deepappreciation and love for him
and I don't want to try towithhold something from him.
When I hear myself say it's myfood, my weight, my body, my
(18:38):
eating, it's not about me,that's a really good indication
that I am missing the place Godwants to have in my life, and it
might be because I think he isnot who he actually says he is.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Oh, that's so true, heidi, that's so true.
Another indication is I don'twant to be with God, like I'm
ashamed to be with him right now.
I mean, gosh, I felt like thatfor, I don't know, 40 years.
I never told anybody, you know,I thought I've got to get
(19:14):
myself together, I've got tofigure this out before I go to
the Lord.
And how many people have weheard say that?
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
I've heard people say thingsover and over again.
I feel like I'm letting Goddown.
He's so disappointed with me.
You are not holding God up.
No, the world is not resting onyour shoulders, and neither is
God's mood.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
No, I mean, how about this truth?
God doesn't need us to doanything, actually, yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
That was a big one for me.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
I was like he doesn't Wait, what?
No?
I mean, I thought I wassupposed to be like running out
there and saving the world.
I had a lot of beliefs thatwere not right and sometimes
they still pop back up and it'slike wait a minute, wait a
minute.
I need to go to the word and Ineed to be grounded to see what
(20:08):
are God's thoughts about this.
How about this?
Yeah, how about that?
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Like I've never even asked him yeah, and so often
about God.
You know what is he like and oh, as I get to know him better, I
find that my heart is softenedtowards him and I want to give
him my life, I want to surrender, and that's really cool.
But then I also begin to wantto think his thoughts, about my
(20:34):
emotions, about difficult peoplein my life, difficult
situations that keep going onand on and on and on, and on,
and on, and on and on, and thoseare the things that I might eat
in response to.
Oh for sure.
And so if I could swap out mythoughts for his thoughts about
(20:59):
him, wouldn't that make a hugedifference in the way?
You know how do I react when Iam faced with a surprising
disappointment or when somethingis an ongoing struggle.
I mean, if I'm thinking God'sthoughts about it, I'm not going
to run for the food and justwallow in a bag of this or that.
I'm not, because God wouldn't.
So I'm going to think histhoughts, and I want that
because I've gotten to know him.
(21:20):
And then, along with that iswho do I think I am?
Who do I think I?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
am, who do you?
Speaker 1 (21:29):
think you are Heidi, do I think I am?
Who do I think?
Speaker 2 (21:32):
I am.
Who do you think you are, heidi?
But what does God say aboutthat?
Yeah, you know what.
That is so important.
Those two things.
We've talked about that a lotin the last few months.
Who is God?
But now, who am I?
How does he see me?
This is huge.
I can't even tell you how bigthis is.
This and this is huge for me.
(21:53):
It's huge for Heidi.
We understand this, but thoseof you that are listening, that
are feeling like a strongholdhas got a hold of you.
This is huge.
This is huge.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Where is my identity?
This is huge.
It is when is my identity.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Who am I and why, and what do I do with my failure?
I keep failing, and so myidentity must be I'm a failure.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Ooh, no, where do?
Speaker 2 (22:19):
we go with that.
What does God say?
He says bring it to me.
Yeah, he says, bring it to me.
He says you are notdisappointing me, because I
don't see you that way.
You are God's girl or God's guy?
Yeah, what does the Bible say?
You are radiant in my sight.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Yeah, you are my beloved.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
I sing over you With loud singing and shout sing over
you With loud singing and shoutI delight over you.
Yes, we're sitting in thecorner and we're saying, god,
you're disappointed.
And he's saying, no, I'm not, Idelight over you, I'm
celebrating you.
What else does he?
Speaker 1 (23:04):
say Well.
I mean, if he makes beauty fromashes, then it seems to me he
can celebrate and make beautiful.
My mess ups over food andeating and body image and all of
that.
I mean beauty from ashes is areally extreme step.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Yeah, it really, really is.
I mean, he says to us you aremy beloved, let's work on this
together.
I'm your healer.
I want you to be healed.
I'm the one that gives youpeace and joy.
Oh my gosh, I mean, it'samazing.
And so we spend a lot of timeat Revelation Within on those
(23:40):
two.
What about the food list?
Where's that?
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Well, now I was going to say somebody says a lot of
people say yeah, yeah, yeah,Just tell me what I got to eat
and how I got to do it and whattime and how much.
Yeah, yeah, and is it the sameas?
Speaker 2 (23:54):
intermittent fasting.
Should I sit or stand or dosomersaults while I'm eating?
Speaker 1 (23:58):
What do you think?
Should I use the food tracker?
Oh, my goodness, when we putthe main thing is the main thing
.
I mean I know people say thatsort of thing all the time, but
it's true.
Well, god says it in his wordseek first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness, and allthese things will be added to
you, they'll fall into place.
And if you look at the context,I think it's Matthew six it's
(24:22):
talking about what you will eatand what you will drink and what
you will wear.
How many of us are free fromthinking of those things and
worrying about them in any givenday?
What am I going to wear?
I look at my closet.
I go, oh, nothing fits.
That's a concern for me.
And what am I going to eat andwhat am I going to drink?
And God says be obsessedinstead with me and my
(24:44):
righteousness.
Everything else is going to fallinto its proper place.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Oh, I love that.
Be obsessed with me instead.
I love that.
I love that.
I just had a picture in my mindof my bed with like a giant
pile of clothes on it.
You can look at my bed and youcan figure out where my identity
is placed If I've got a hugepile of clothes.
(25:09):
If it has taken me half an hourto figure out what to wear that
day.
My identity I'm struggling withmy identity.
But if you know if I can graban outfit and go and I'm fine
and I mean, then it's like thatfor me.
That's a little temperaturegauge?
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Oh yeah, I know.
And how many of us do that tofigure out what to wear to
church?
I mean really, how manydifferent outfits do we go
through before we?
Are willing to get in a car togo to church, I mean, and it may
not be to dress up.
It may just be to becomfortable and to feel good in
your own skin.
That's another thing that we allstruggle with.
(25:48):
Most of us struggle with is,you know, this battle with
what's in our closet.
And, yeah, it does reflect onwhat am I really allowing to
drive me?
And I want, I want it to be themind of Christ, because he says
I have it.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Sure, I mean, I feel like so often God says to me
Christina, you're a mom, yes,you're an imperfect mom, yes,
but that's not your identity.
Your identity is in me.
So that takes all the pressureoff.
I'm going to try my best.
I'm going to do what you knowGod is leading me.
I'm going to make mistakes, I'mgoing to trip and stumble, but
(26:25):
my identity, what's my identity?
It stays the same.
I love that.
My identity in Christ is I'mhis.
Yes, that's it, I'm his, I'mhis.
The rest of it's going to ebband flow and change and it's
going to be great and it's goingto be terrible, and it's going
to be up and down, my career andwhat I can do, what I can't do,
(26:48):
how my health is or all thosethings, but who we are in Christ
, it doesn't change.
I love that list that we have,heidi, that we share.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Yeah, you can find that list at teamlifeisgoodcom
forward slash identity.
Teamlifeisgoodcom forward slashidentity.
That's all about who I am inChrist.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Well, and there's scripture references for each
one, so you can go there in theword and see the context and
read even more.
It's fantastic.
There's many who am I in Christlists out there.
This is a really good one ifyou don't have one.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
But what?
Speaker 2 (27:28):
if right, what if?
Is one of our mind renewaltools.
What if we spend some timeevery day thinking about praying
through talking with God, aboutwho he is and who we are in him
?
How would that change the waywe view ourselves, the way we
view our relationships, the waywe view our work, our failures,
(27:52):
our successes?
Speaker 1 (27:54):
It all becomes about him, not about us Right, and
that's making me think in someroundabout sort of way.
Another thing that a lot ofpeople have in common who come
to us is the spirit ofperfectionism.
Yes, that kind of undermines alot of things I mean, and I
think some people even thinkthat that's something to be
(28:16):
proud of and that's fine.
But it's really tripping you upwhen it comes to because what
do I do with my failures if I ama perfectionist, right.
And so for me, those tendenciesI have, like if I can't pull it
together for you know, howevermany days in a row, I'm going to
quit and try something elseAgain.
(28:36):
I'm focusing not on who Godsays I am or who God is.
I'm focusing on what istemporary, what is visible, and
what is visible is not worththat kind of bandwidth in my
head.
I want to seek first his kingdomand his righteousness, and all
these things will be added to meas well, and so perfectionism
is a trick.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
It's a trick, like comparison is a trick.
Oh yeah, very much.
It's the enemy's trick.
He loves shame, he lovescomparison, he loves when we get
stuck in bitterness.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
So do people who come to Revelation Within, come to a
place of peace with food,eating and their bodies.
Christina.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
The answer is yes, but the answer is also it's a
process, and so we are all inprocess.
I am in process, heidi and Iare both in process.
Everyone, we're all in process.
And so some of us come and it'slike can you just fix this?
Okay, how many weeks will ittake?
(29:38):
How many months?
And we can't go there becauseit's different for everyone, and
we're going to be in processuntil we step into heaven.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
That's just how it is to be in process until we step
into heaven.
That's just how it is.
One of the things that I loveabout this approach, though, is
that, unlike when we fix thefood and we change what we eat
and how we eat and how often weeat and why we eat unlike that,
which is temporary, because if Iget sick, if I'm not in the
mood, if I get bad news, I mightthrow all of that out the
(30:10):
window for some reason, when wefocus on mind renewal, that is
like an investment in who I ambecoming.
It doesn't go away if I stopdoing it.
It is always there to go backto when I remind myself of who
God is and what he's like andwhat he does for people, and
what he says about me.
(30:31):
I don't lose any ground there.
You know, if something happensand I don't renew my mind for a
day or two or something likethat, instead, it's right there
to come back up to the surface,where I can enjoy being reminded
by the Holy Spirit that this iswho you are, this is who I am.
That's a great place to be,where I can't be derailed by
(30:54):
what comes my way, when I'mfocusing on those things that
are unseen, those things thatmake me who I really am inside
and out yes.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Right, right, right.
It's making the main thing.
The main thing, like you said.
And so, yes, we have lots andlots and lots of people who come
to us and we see these big,huge smiles on the other side of
the Zoom and we see that thisarea, you know, god has really
touched this area and he'sreally working on this one over
(31:27):
here, and there is more peaceand more freedom.
I'm not going to say you're notgoing to arrive, no, there's
not going to be an arrival date.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
We don't promise that you will never struggle again.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
No, we can't do that.
We can't promise that You'llknow what to do, though You'll
be equipped.
You'll be equipped, you'll knowwhat to do, you'll know who to
turn to.
And that's an amazing.
I remember in my own journey,when Heidi, you and I were
coaching and I had this aha ormaybe it was you know something
that you said where it's likeChristina, you're going to mess
(32:03):
up, so let's just have, let's beready for it.
It took that kind of that stingout of the failure.
It's like, oh, I can be, likeyou said, equipped, I can be
ready, I know exactly what to do.
I know exactly what to do whenI'm struggling, when that sorrow
is overtaking me.
I know that my thoughts areincredibly important and I know
(32:27):
that God has made a way for usto be free.
Life's not going to be perfect.
Challenges were going to be.
They're going to come again andagain and again and again.
But that sanctification is thatgoing to God and let's work
this out together so thatthere's more peace, there's more
(32:48):
freedom.
Yes, we're on that road.
Yes, I love that that's.
It's a beautiful journey, yay,yes, and the intimacy with the
Lord.
I've never had it better, Ifeel like, and I love that.
You know there's.
There's no shame.
Shame is not from God.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
No, what it's not yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
It's not, it's not, it's not there's so much hope
here.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Well, we hope that you've experienced a little
taste of hope, listener, andthat you'll come back and join
us next time.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Yes, and we're so glad that you've been here for
this episode of RevelationWithin.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
On the go.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Bye for now.
See you next time.
Hi, welcome to our podcast Revelation Within On the
Go.
I'm Heidi Biles-Maepperson, oneof your hosts and the owner and
lead coach of the RevelationWithin ministry.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And I'm Christina Motley, your other host, also a
Revelation Within coach andHeidi's partner in all things
(00:33):
Revelation Within.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Welcome to the show, the show that brings you the
best of the best.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Have you with us, yes , and good to be with you, heidi
.
Good to be with you.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
We've been visiting for the last hour and a half or
so Yakking about life, and oneof the things that we started
talking about was what are somethings that the people that
we've coached, both one-on-oneand in groups or been in our
community, have in common witheach other?
What are the threads that wesee again and again?
(01:11):
And the reason why we thinkthis might be a really good
thing for us to talk about in apodcast is because one of the
common threads is everybodythinks their story is unique.
Yes, there's something wrongwith them, right?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Right, well, and it's not that their story isn't
unique, because of course we areall different, but there are a
lot of similarities and I seethem in my life, in my past, yes
, me too.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I see the same ones.
Right.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
So, yeah, I think that what we want to do is bring
you a little bit of hope today.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
But first we got to take you through the dirt.
Yes, exactly, I'm just gettingover a cold, so you can hear me
rasping in my lap.
Sorry about that, but seriously, there's a lot of things that
we all probably do struggle with, even though we think it's just
us, and one of them is shame.
And so shame keeps us isolating, of course, yes, but we feel
(02:12):
like, oh, nobody wouldunderstand, they would think ill
of me or whatever it might be,and so shame is definitely a
common thread.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Oh my gosh, it's so, so common.
I was thinking and we weretalking about this a little bit,
heidi, how you know, we alldeal with all kinds of issues
throughout our lives.
We all do.
We all hit challenges androadblocks and milestones, and
you know, in our careers, in ourfamilies, and you know all
kinds of things.
Why is this one?
(02:42):
Why is this food?
Why is this one?
Why is this food eating?
Speaker 1 (02:51):
body image.
Why is?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
this one feel so impossible to so many of us, and
I think that you just hit thenail on the head with the idea
of shame.
It's like it's a secretstronghold that we don't feel
safe talking about to anybody.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Or, if we talk about it, we have to juxtapose it with
what diet, what plan, whatsolution we're on, when that may
not be where the directionwe're headed, because we get
that it's deeper than that.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
A while back, I heard someone talk about dieting in a
way where they were very, veryangry, and this was I can't
remember if it was a therapistor a coach or somebody and I
thought why are they so angry?
And you know what I feel like.
In some ways, now I understand.
(03:38):
Well, I understand becausethere's a message in our culture
that says this one thing youshould be ashamed of yourself
and it's not safe to talk aboutit.
And so let's minimize and let'shide and let's go in secret
with this one, and I hate it.
(03:59):
I hate that.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
And it's multifaceted , so it's like, if it's not,
hate that and it's multifaceted,so it's like if it's not, you
don't look right.
You don't look a certain shapeor size that you should,
according to our culture'sbeauty standards, or whatever,
then you're not taking care ofyourself is another aspect to it
.
Yes, and so it's like it's gotso many different levels and
(04:22):
targets us in different places.
And then when you add in thatso many of us have been told
you're supposed to eat this andnot supposed to eat that, that
adds to the shame that we feeland the secrecy.
Well, let's talk for a moment,Christina, before we go any
further.
What is a stronghold?
(04:43):
Exactly, Because this topicdefinitely encompasses
everything about a stronghold.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, so in the Bible God says that he is our
stronghold, which I love thatpicture.
I love thinking of him having astronghold on me.
But, there are things in thisworld that can be our stronghold
, and so it's a counterfeitcomfort, but it's almost more
than that.
(05:10):
It's like it grips you, andthose of you out there I feel
like you will probably say ohyeah, I have that.
I have something that grips me.
It's like a magnetic pulltoward it, and over time it gets
stronger and stronger, and wethrow everything at it that we
(05:31):
can think of and, of course,food and eating is not the only
one, there's many, but we throweverything at it we can think of
.
We read every book, we pay forevery program, we try everything
we can think of, and it justseems to get bigger and bigger
the more attention we give it.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Is that a?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
good way to describe it.
Oh yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
And the world looks on it.
We've said this before and Iknow I'll say it again the world
looks on the externals and saysto us you've got a food, eating
and weight problem.
And God, I think, is sayingwait a minute.
There's something else going onhere and it is a stronghold
problem.
Who do you run to for safety,for solace, for encouragement,
(06:20):
for rest, even?
And if we have a strongholdproblem, then the solution is
going to be different than if wehave a weight, food and eating
problem.
And so the world tells us thatthe solution is going to be diet
and exercise and taking care ofyourselves.
That's in quotes and God's like, but that's not going to take
care of the stronghold, that'snot going to take care of what's
(06:42):
really happening here, and sowe want to talk about the things
that many people have in commonwith one another, who come to
us, but we want to be sure thatyou hear the message of hope as
well.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Well, and one of the things I think that has really
surprised me over the last yearsis it's not about anyone's size
either.
We have people come to us atabsolutely every size, every
size.
It's not about that.
And then we have people come tous with physical challenges.
(07:14):
We have people come to us with,you know, all kinds of things
that they've been through andthey're just you know, like I
said this to you a few minutesago, heidi there, just there,
isn't a plan.
There isn't like a list ofadvice or a plan that we could
give to anyone to fix this.
There isn't, it's not there,it's not out there, even though
(07:38):
you walk in a bookstore rememberbookstores, bookstores Walk in
a bookstore and there's, youknow, five bookshelves full of
self-help books.
Try this, try that, try this.
You know you'll have a newhabit in this many days and
you'll have this and nothinglasts, nothing lasts.
(07:59):
So we have to go deeper withthis.
We have to go deeper with this.
What happens often is that wehave people come to us just like
Heidi and I came to Thin Withinall those years ago and come
and say I'm desperate, I don'tknow what to do, I'm in despair.
This has been happening.
I've been in this shame cyclemy whole life.
(08:20):
And then we talk about goingdeeper, and then they leave.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
And they go to Weight Watchers or they go to
something like that that has aplan.
And I'm so glad you mentionedthis because in my mind right
now, as I'm thinking, what areways we can avoid going deeper?
And one of them is gravitatetowards a food plan because we
want to throw at this.
Whatever fixes what is seen andGod tells us that what is seen
(08:48):
is temporary, what is unseen iseternal.
I lost a boatload of weightwith Weight Watchers once, and
then I did back.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
It's not like we don't understand, we do
understand, we understand.
There's this little panic thatruns through you when you
realize this goes deeper thansomebody telling me what's on
the good list and what's on thebad list of what to eat or what
time of day I should eat.
There's a little panic Ifsomebody says to you Christina,
(09:17):
it's okay to eat after sevenwhat?
There's a panic?
Right, it used to be for me,not anymore, but it's like, but
that's a rule, that's a rulethat I've always followed.
We've seen that in our coachinggroups too.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Yes, we have, yeah, where we dare to rock that boat.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
We've seen that everywhere and there's hundreds
of those, those little ideas,those thoughts, those
restrictions, those rules Iguess there's hundreds of those
for all of us and they come upand it's like, oh no, well, I'm
not doing that, but it's neverserved us, it hasn't solved the
(09:56):
problem at all Right, right,Exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
So what are some of the things that many of the
people who have come to us havein common both with us and with
one another?
I know that one of the thingswe've mentioned already that
most of us have experienced insome way, with restrictive diets
or even compulsive almostexercise, sometimes for entire
decades yes, Not just a one anddone type of experience, it's
(10:23):
ongoing.
It's like well, that didn'twork 10 years ago.
I'm going back to try it againnow, Exactly.
I know that a lot of us were.
I mean, let's go back in time.
For me, it started with familymembers.
That meant well, but it didn'tgo well.
You know what they intended wasto control what I ate and how
(10:44):
much, and you know even whenthey put me on diets later, they
meant well, but what it did wascreate this real challenging
issue for me.
I don't blame them today becauseI recognize that I'm an adult
woman, a redeemed woman of God,who makes her own choices.
I have agency, but it's still apart of my history.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
And for me too.
I mean, I look back and allkinds of disordered eating stuff
was going on in my house.
My whole childhood it was there.
It was especially there with mymom.
Yeah, I'm trying to think of mydad, he just went along with
everything, but yeah, that wasthere and that's definitely
(11:26):
that's a big one.
We hear a lot of people talkabout all the dysfunctional
stuff that happened when theywere kids, and that is valid and
that is real and important forsure, and it does impact you, it
does.
It does.
It impacts us for sure, butthat is one of the ways of going
deeper really is to kind of gothere a little bit not stay
(11:47):
there forever but, definitely go.
And let me think about thatInviting God in.
It's like, oh wow, this patternreally came from my mom.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Yeah, and it's not to blame, it's to understand.
I know that when I firstrealized that, okay, I'm a
product of a lot of things thathappened in my childhood, it
helped me to not feel quite socrazy, which is good, because
once you realize you're notcrazy, that you're just like
most, of everybody else, yeah.
(12:19):
Then you know okay, I betthere's solutions here.
I bet there's solutions.
And so you know, grab a hold ofthe hand of God and walk with
him through the valley of hisshadow of death.
That's what it may feel likefor some of us.
I know it did for me and doeswhen I need to revisit it, which
I think sometimes we do.
But when I look at the abusethat I had experienced around
(12:40):
food and eating, the only way Icould really process it, the way
I needed to, was to lean intothe Lord and do it on purpose
with him, his way, and thatmeant doing a ton of forgiveness
work along the way as well.
I mean, how many of us don'thave somebody in our histories
who used words to describe theway we looked in an unflattering
(13:05):
way or are you going to eatthat?
You can't eat that and not gainweight, or whatever.
It could be anybody.
Maybe it was worse than that.
There was somebody that told usa story once about how they
would go visit their grandma fora certain length of time and at
the beginning of the visit theywould get on a scale.
And at the end of the visitthey would get on a scale.
And there have been all kindsof stories like that and we've
(13:28):
had stories similar to mineabout abuse around food.
I mean actual abuse.
If you don't eat this, you willget slapped around.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
I mean it's hard to process that.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
It is, but God wants us free of it.
It's negative impact on us, andso he wants to walk with us
through it.
Extend forgiveness and I don'tjust mean like, okay, I forgive
them for everything they did.
God will show us what that hasto look like for us.
But at 63 years of age now, Iknow I will never be abused
(14:02):
around food again.
I don't need to let mychildhood abuse come with me to
the dinner table.
I don't.
I'm free from that.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Hallelujah, right, exactly, but that is.
That's one of the most commonthings, and you know why.
Why shouldn't we be talkingabout that?
There's no shame there.
You know, it wasn't your fault.
Our parents are imperfect.
We're imperfect parents too,always asking the Lord.
That's why look and learn is soimportant.
(14:32):
We've got some participantsworking so hard to look and
really learn, which means you'reinviting God in, and it's like
why am I doing this, lord?
Why am I doing this?
Where did this come from?
Let's figure it out togetherand then being able to move on,
and that's so, so hopeful, sohealing.
(14:54):
God wants to bring healing toall those areas that are causing
roadblocks in our journeys withhim.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yeah, I would say some of us.
I think it was a product ofthose dysfunctional food
behaviors and all that we wereraised with.
That caused us to gravitatetowards certain programs that
were available.
I know for me and for many thatcome to us, they struggled with
(15:23):
embracing a view of food andeating and God, because he was a
part of this, that taught usthat we were condemned for not
losing weight.
We were condemned for eatingone bite past satisfied, and I
think some of us may havegravitated to that approach for
(15:44):
a solution because it wasfamiliar to the abuse and
dysfunction of our past.
Even though it didn't look thesame when you look deeper it was
.
It was condemning.
It was not the voice of God.
That is not condemning Right.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Yeah, definitely, that's so, so, so true, which
kind of leads into anothercommonality of the people that
we see a lot, and that is thatour view of God is inaccurate,
and I would never have said thisbefore.
I thought I've read the Biblemy whole life.
I know who God is, I know whathe does, his attributes, all of
(16:23):
that, but here I was feelingcondemned by him and feeling
like he must be disappointedwith me and I'm pushing him away
when I'm engaging in thisstronghold.
Where did all of that come from?
That's not biblical.
I have no power at all to pushGod away.
(16:44):
And how many times in the worddoes he tell us I will never,
ever, ever leave you.
I am with you, I am with you, Iwill never leave you, I am with
you, and that there's nothingthat can separate us from his
love.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Somehow there's been a message that's been released
out there for years and yearsthat says God is disappointed in
you.
You're pushing him away by yourbehavior.
That's not truth, that's notfrom the word of God, it's not
who God is.
No, yeah, so in Revelation,within, that's where we start.
(17:21):
Right there, we start with whois God.
Who is God, who is he really?
And you have to kind of take astep back and admit you know
what.
Maybe I'm not exactly sure.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
And I know this throws people quite a bit.
They come and they hope they'regoing to have an answer for how
to have, I don't know, the bodythat they hope to have, or
peace with food and eating, andthat's great too.
But we go who is God?
Let's look at this, let's findout what God's word says about
who he is.
And they're like wait a minute,just tell me what to do to eat.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Yeah, Like, why are we starting with this?
You know I've been reading theBible since I was seven or
something.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
I've been leading Bible study, fellowship, or I'm
a core leader, or what I mean,or I'm a speaker, I go to
women's conferences and speak.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
I'm an author.
Why do I need to look at this?
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Right, right.
And but this if?
Oh, my goodness for me.
This came home to me and it waslike wow, when I know what God
is really like, I have a deepappreciation and love for him
and I don't want to try towithhold something from him.
When I hear myself say it's myfood, my weight, my body, my
(18:38):
eating, it's not about me,that's a really good indication
that I am missing the place Godwants to have in my life, and it
might be because I think he isnot who he actually says he is.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Oh, that's so true, heidi, that's so true.
Another indication is I don'twant to be with God, like I'm
ashamed to be with him right now.
I mean, gosh, I felt like thatfor, I don't know, 40 years.
I never told anybody, you know,I thought I've got to get
(19:14):
myself together, I've got tofigure this out before I go to
the Lord.
And how many people have weheard say that?
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
I've heard people say thingsover and over again.
I feel like I'm letting Goddown.
He's so disappointed with me.
You are not holding God up.
No, the world is not resting onyour shoulders, and neither is
God's mood.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
No, I mean, how about this truth?
God doesn't need us to doanything, actually, yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
That was a big one for me.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
I was like he doesn't Wait, what?
No?
I mean, I thought I wassupposed to be like running out
there and saving the world.
I had a lot of beliefs thatwere not right and sometimes
they still pop back up and it'slike wait a minute, wait a
minute.
I need to go to the word and Ineed to be grounded to see what
(20:08):
are God's thoughts about this.
How about this?
Yeah, how about that?
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Like I've never even asked him yeah, and so often
about God.
You know what is he like and oh, as I get to know him better, I
find that my heart is softenedtowards him and I want to give
him my life, I want to surrender, and that's really cool.
But then I also begin to wantto think his thoughts, about my
(20:34):
emotions, about difficult peoplein my life, difficult
situations that keep going onand on and on and on, and on,
and on, and on and on, and thoseare the things that I might eat
in response to.
Oh for sure.
And so if I could swap out mythoughts for his thoughts about
(20:59):
him, wouldn't that make a hugedifference in the way?
You know how do I react when Iam faced with a surprising
disappointment or when somethingis an ongoing struggle.
I mean, if I'm thinking God'sthoughts about it, I'm not going
to run for the food and justwallow in a bag of this or that.
I'm not, because God wouldn't.
So I'm going to think histhoughts, and I want that
because I've gotten to know him.
(21:20):
And then, along with that iswho do I think I am?
Who do I think I?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
am, who do you?
Speaker 1 (21:29):
think you are Heidi, do I think I am?
Who do I think?
Speaker 2 (21:32):
I am.
Who do you think you are, heidi?
But what does God say aboutthat?
Yeah, you know what.
That is so important.
Those two things.
We've talked about that a lotin the last few months.
Who is God?
But now, who am I?
How does he see me?
This is huge.
I can't even tell you how bigthis is.
This and this is huge for me.
(21:53):
It's huge for Heidi.
We understand this, but thoseof you that are listening, that
are feeling like a strongholdhas got a hold of you.
This is huge.
This is huge.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Where is my identity?
This is huge.
It is when is my identity.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Who am I and why, and what do I do with my failure?
I keep failing, and so myidentity must be I'm a failure.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Ooh, no, where do?
Speaker 2 (22:19):
we go with that.
What does God say?
He says bring it to me.
Yeah, he says, bring it to me.
He says you are notdisappointing me, because I
don't see you that way.
You are God's girl or God's guy?
Yeah, what does the Bible say?
You are radiant in my sight.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Yeah, you are my beloved.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
I sing over you With loud singing and shout sing over
you With loud singing and shoutI delight over you.
Yes, we're sitting in thecorner and we're saying, god,
you're disappointed.
And he's saying, no, I'm not, Idelight over you, I'm
celebrating you.
What else does he?
Speaker 1 (23:04):
say Well.
I mean, if he makes beauty fromashes, then it seems to me he
can celebrate and make beautiful.
My mess ups over food andeating and body image and all of
that.
I mean beauty from ashes is areally extreme step.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Yeah, it really, really is.
I mean, he says to us you aremy beloved, let's work on this
together.
I'm your healer.
I want you to be healed.
I'm the one that gives youpeace and joy.
Oh my gosh, I mean, it'samazing.
And so we spend a lot of timeat Revelation Within on those
(23:40):
two.
What about the food list?
Where's that?
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Well, now I was going to say somebody says a lot of
people say yeah, yeah, yeah,Just tell me what I got to eat
and how I got to do it and whattime and how much.
Yeah, yeah, and is it the sameas?
Speaker 2 (23:54):
intermittent fasting.
Should I sit or stand or dosomersaults while I'm eating?
Speaker 1 (23:58):
What do you think?
Should I use the food tracker?
Oh, my goodness, when we putthe main thing is the main thing
.
I mean I know people say thatsort of thing all the time, but
it's true.
Well, god says it in his wordseek first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness, and allthese things will be added to
you, they'll fall into place.
And if you look at the context,I think it's Matthew six it's
(24:22):
talking about what you will eatand what you will drink and what
you will wear.
How many of us are free fromthinking of those things and
worrying about them in any givenday?
What am I going to wear?
I look at my closet.
I go, oh, nothing fits.
That's a concern for me.
And what am I going to eat andwhat am I going to drink?
And God says be obsessedinstead with me and my
(24:44):
righteousness.
Everything else is going to fallinto its proper place.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Oh, I love that.
Be obsessed with me instead.
I love that.
I love that.
I just had a picture in my mindof my bed with like a giant
pile of clothes on it.
You can look at my bed and youcan figure out where my identity
is placed If I've got a hugepile of clothes.
(25:09):
If it has taken me half an hourto figure out what to wear that
day.
My identity I'm struggling withmy identity.
But if you know if I can graban outfit and go and I'm fine
and I mean, then it's like thatfor me.
That's a little temperaturegauge?
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Oh yeah, I know.
And how many of us do that tofigure out what to wear to
church?
I mean really, how manydifferent outfits do we go
through before we?
Are willing to get in a car togo to church, I mean, and it may
not be to dress up.
It may just be to becomfortable and to feel good in
your own skin.
That's another thing that we allstruggle with.
(25:48):
Most of us struggle with is,you know, this battle with
what's in our closet.
And, yeah, it does reflect onwhat am I really allowing to
drive me?
And I want, I want it to be themind of Christ, because he says
I have it.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Sure, I mean, I feel like so often God says to me
Christina, you're a mom, yes,you're an imperfect mom, yes,
but that's not your identity.
Your identity is in me.
So that takes all the pressureoff.
I'm going to try my best.
I'm going to do what you knowGod is leading me.
I'm going to make mistakes, I'mgoing to trip and stumble, but
(26:25):
my identity, what's my identity?
It stays the same.
I love that.
My identity in Christ is I'mhis.
Yes, that's it, I'm his, I'mhis.
The rest of it's going to ebband flow and change and it's
going to be great and it's goingto be terrible, and it's going
to be up and down, my career andwhat I can do, what I can't do,
(26:48):
how my health is or all thosethings, but who we are in Christ
, it doesn't change.
I love that list that we have,heidi, that we share.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Yeah, you can find that list at teamlifeisgoodcom
forward slash identity.
Teamlifeisgoodcom forward slashidentity.
That's all about who I am inChrist.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Well, and there's scripture references for each
one, so you can go there in theword and see the context and
read even more.
It's fantastic.
There's many who am I in Christlists out there.
This is a really good one ifyou don't have one.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
But what?
Speaker 2 (27:28):
if right, what if?
Is one of our mind renewaltools.
What if we spend some timeevery day thinking about praying
through talking with God, aboutwho he is and who we are in him
?
How would that change the waywe view ourselves, the way we
view our relationships, the waywe view our work, our failures,
(27:52):
our successes?
Speaker 1 (27:54):
It all becomes about him, not about us Right, and
that's making me think in someroundabout sort of way.
Another thing that a lot ofpeople have in common who come
to us is the spirit ofperfectionism.
Yes, that kind of undermines alot of things I mean, and I
think some people even thinkthat that's something to be
(28:16):
proud of and that's fine.
But it's really tripping you upwhen it comes to because what
do I do with my failures if I ama perfectionist, right.
And so for me, those tendenciesI have, like if I can't pull it
together for you know, howevermany days in a row, I'm going to
quit and try something elseAgain.
(28:36):
I'm focusing not on who Godsays I am or who God is.
I'm focusing on what istemporary, what is visible, and
what is visible is not worththat kind of bandwidth in my
head.
I want to seek first his kingdomand his righteousness, and all
these things will be added to meas well, and so perfectionism
is a trick.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
It's a trick, like comparison is a trick.
Oh yeah, very much.
It's the enemy's trick.
He loves shame, he lovescomparison, he loves when we get
stuck in bitterness.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
So do people who come to Revelation Within, come to a
place of peace with food,eating and their bodies.
Christina.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
The answer is yes, but the answer is also it's a
process, and so we are all inprocess.
I am in process, heidi and Iare both in process.
Everyone, we're all in process.
And so some of us come and it'slike can you just fix this?
Okay, how many weeks will ittake?
(29:38):
How many months?
And we can't go there becauseit's different for everyone, and
we're going to be in processuntil we step into heaven.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
That's just how it is to be in process until we step
into heaven.
That's just how it is.
One of the things that I loveabout this approach, though, is
that, unlike when we fix thefood and we change what we eat
and how we eat and how often weeat and why we eat unlike that,
which is temporary, because if Iget sick, if I'm not in the
mood, if I get bad news, I mightthrow all of that out the
(30:10):
window for some reason, when wefocus on mind renewal, that is
like an investment in who I ambecoming.
It doesn't go away if I stopdoing it.
It is always there to go backto when I remind myself of who
God is and what he's like andwhat he does for people, and
what he says about me.
(30:31):
I don't lose any ground there.
You know, if something happensand I don't renew my mind for a
day or two or something likethat, instead, it's right there
to come back up to the surface,where I can enjoy being reminded
by the Holy Spirit that this iswho you are, this is who I am.
That's a great place to be,where I can't be derailed by
(30:54):
what comes my way, when I'mfocusing on those things that
are unseen, those things thatmake me who I really am inside
and out yes.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Right, right, right.
It's making the main thing.
The main thing, like you said.
And so, yes, we have lots andlots and lots of people who come
to us and we see these big,huge smiles on the other side of
the Zoom and we see that thisarea, you know, god has really
touched this area and he'sreally working on this one over
(31:27):
here, and there is more peaceand more freedom.
I'm not going to say you're notgoing to arrive, no, there's
not going to be an arrival date.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
We don't promise that you will never struggle again.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
No, we can't do that.
We can't promise that You'llknow what to do, though You'll
be equipped.
You'll be equipped, you'll knowwhat to do, you'll know who to
turn to.
And that's an amazing.
I remember in my own journey,when Heidi, you and I were
coaching and I had this aha ormaybe it was you know something
that you said where it's likeChristina, you're going to mess
(32:03):
up, so let's just have, let's beready for it.
It took that kind of that stingout of the failure.
It's like, oh, I can be, likeyou said, equipped, I can be
ready, I know exactly what to do.
I know exactly what to do whenI'm struggling, when that sorrow
is overtaking me.
I know that my thoughts areincredibly important and I know
(32:27):
that God has made a way for usto be free.
Life's not going to be perfect.
Challenges were going to be.
They're going to come again andagain and again and again.
But that sanctification is thatgoing to God and let's work
this out together so thatthere's more peace, there's more
(32:48):
freedom.
Yes, we're on that road.
Yes, I love that that's.
It's a beautiful journey, yay,yes, and the intimacy with the
Lord.
I've never had it better, Ifeel like, and I love that.
You know there's.
There's no shame.
Shame is not from God.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
No, what it's not yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
It's not, it's not, it's not there's so much hope
here.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Well, we hope that you've experienced a little
taste of hope, listener, andthat you'll come back and join
us next time.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Yes, and we're so glad that you've been here for
this episode of RevelationWithin.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
On the go.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Bye for now.
See you next time.
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